Yes, keywords still matter, and yes, you must continually research your keyword list, expand it and improve upon it. In fact, the success or failure of your entire marketing strategy is intrinsically tied to how well you research and use keywords across all your digital marketing strategies. They play a vital role in pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, email marketing campaigns and content creation. Now the question moves to when and how to expand your keyword list. To help, here are some things to consider.
1. What is Your Competition Doing?
This isn’t about copying what your competitors are doing. Instead, it’s about knowing what keywords, keyword-phrases and colloquial search terms and sentences your competition uses to attract customers. Remember, you’re both vying for the same piece of the pie. You’re both after the same customers. Understanding which keywords your competitors are using will help you expand your understanding of your customers and market. Check out your competitor's PPC campaigns. Understand your competitor’s PageRank and which search terms they dominate on, and finally, check out the most commonly used keywords on their website and company blog.
2. Back to Basics
Your website’s analytics hold the keys to improving how and when you use keywords. Understanding your own search traffic goes a long way to defining the types of keywords that work versus those that don’t. A good idea is to isolate your best performing keywords and then research different variations through Google's Keyword Planner. This is one of those free Adwords marketing tools you must take advantage of. You’ll be able to isolate new keywords, define their cost, and create new lists of keywords based on historical statistics and current search results.
3. Moving Beyond Google
Yes, Google is the dominant market player. However, Bing is making inroads with its Bing Ads Intelligence platform. This is one of those power marketing tools that allows you to delve deeper into the keywords and keyword phrases that will directly improve the performance of each of your campaigns. Bing has partnered with Microsoft to allow users to build and expand upon their keywords with Microsoft Excel. The system is intuitive enough to offer suggestions on keyword expansions, while helping you isolate new keyword combinations.
4. Leveraging Google Trends
Tech-savvy digital marketing teams know how useful Google Trends is when newsjacking, which is the practice of inserting your brand into newsworthy topics of the day. However, Google Trends is a tool driven by keywords. It provides the most up-to-date information on the most popular search terms. You’ll know which keywords are increasing in popularity, which are declining and you’ll even be able to compare different keywords and search volumes side-by-side.
5. Focusing on Local Search
Sometimes the simplest way to get found is to focus on location-based search terms. Combine your business's name, it's products, and the services you offer, with your town or state. Digital marketing teams are finding it much simpler to dominate local search results when they use the right local keywords. Trying to own a top 5 search result on the most popular of keywords in this global economy is not always realistic. Using local-based search strategies, and accentuating keywords that define your locality, will help improve your local search results.
Success with keywords is all about research. However, it's never a one-time event. You must continually research your keywords by understanding what is working right now and what might help in the future.
Using the right keywords and keyword phrases takes time and patience. If you need insight on how to find those keywords then contact us now and request an assessment.
Written By: David Carpenter
